LAOCOÖN AND HIS SONS

LAOCOÖN AND HIS SONS

by STRIX

Original Artwork

Pastel on Board

420 mm x 594 mm

‘Marble sculpture from the Hellenistic Period (323 BCE – 31 CE).’

VATICAN MUSEUMS

DESCRIPTION

The sculptural masterpiece of Laocoön and His Sons is one of the greatest treasures of antiquity. Virgil in the epic poem The Aeneid, describes how Laocoön, a priest of Apollo in the city of Troy, is punished by the gods for warning his fellow Trojans against the wooden horse given to them by the Greeks. Two monstrous sea-serpents are directed to attack Laocoön and his two sons killing them. The statue is an incomparable depiction of human agony under the snakes’ relentless attack and writhing coils.